
AC Milan legend Franco Baresi excited for ‘historic' Liverpool rivalry in Hong Kong
AC Milan legend Franco Baresi said he was excited to see one of Europe's most 'historic rivalries' played out in Hong Kong when his old club visit the city this summer.
Advertisement
Monday saw the announcement of the Hong Kong Football Festival 2025 at Kai Tak Stadium, in which Milan will take on Liverpool on July 26 before Arsenal face Tottenham five days later.
The Rossoneri have been crowned European champions on seven occasions, while Liverpool have won the same trophy six times.
The two sides met in the 2005 and 2007 Champions League final, with each earning a victory – and Baresi is looking forward to watching the rivalry continue in Hong Kong.
'When you play for a great club like Milan and you travel the world, you always have a responsibility to do your best and respect the job at hand as well as to people who have come to watch,' Baresi told the Post. 'We have a historic rivalry with Liverpool so it's always an important match. Between us, we've been champions of Europe 13 times.'
Franco Baresi poses for a photo outside the new Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong. Photo: AC Milan
Baresi, who retired in 1997, last played in Hong Kong in a pre-season tour in 1995, when, a month after losing the Champions League final to Ajax, they beat South China 2-1 in the BB Telecom Super Champions Cup.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


RTHK
12 hours ago
- RTHK
Madrid streets to make debut in next F1 season
Madrid streets to make debut in next F1 season The Shanghai leg of the Formula One season is set for March. File photo: NurPhoto/AFP Formula One will have two races in Spain next season with Madrid's new street circuit making its debut in September and Italy's Imola dropping off the 24-round calendar, F1 and the governing FIA announced on Tuesday. Melbourne's Australian Grand Prix will again be the season-opener on March 8 with Shanghai hosting round two a week later, as the sport enters a new engine era with Cadillac also arriving as an 11th team. Japan will be round three as a standalone event on March 29. Monaco will be the first European round on June 7, swapping dates with Canada, whose race in Montreal moves to May 24 and follows Miami on May 3. Canada, which clashes with the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race this year, is now set to overlap instead with the Indianapolis 500. Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, which is entering the final year of its current contract and will no longer be designated the Spanish Grand Prix, is scheduled for June 14. Madrid's Madring, a part-street layout around the city's Ifema exhibition centre, will be the last race in Europe on September 13 and the weekend after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, due to drop off the calendar after 2026, will be held on August 23 as a sprint weekend. The season will end in Abu Dhabi on December 6, immediately after Qatar. "We are excited to welcome Madrid to the calendar, and to see huge automotive brands like Audi, Cadillac and Ford join the Formula One grid," said Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali in a statement. Swiss-based Sauber will become the Audi works team in 2026 while Ford are partnering with Red Bull. Formula One will also have 100 percent sustainable fuel. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will again be held on successive weekends in April due to Ramadan taking place in February and March. The calendar has been organised to create more of a geographical flow, which Formula One said would deliver significant freight efficiencies and help the sport's sustainability push. There will be a total of six back-to-back race weekends, with two triple headers of three in a row starting with Austin, Mexico and Brazil and ending with Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. (Reuters)


RTHK
19 hours ago
- RTHK
Cristian Chivu appointed as new Inter Milan manager
Cristian Chivu appointed as new Inter Milan manager Chivu arrives at Inter Milan after only 13 games in charge of Parma. Photo: AFP Inter Milan have chosen Cristian Chivu to lead the Serie A club into a new era, confirming the former Romania defender as Simone Inzaghi's replacement ahead of the upcoming Club World Cup. Still reeling from humiliation at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, Inter have gambled on novice Chivu after failing to get Cesc Fabregas from Como. "Inter Milan is pleased to welcome Cristian Chivu as the new head coach of the first team. The coach has signed a contract with Inter until 30 June 2027," Inter said in a statement. Chivu has agreed a deal with Inter worth a reported US$2.85 million a season, taking charge of one of Europe's biggest clubs only a few months after beginning his senior coaching career with Parma. Parma confirmed Chivu's departure earlier on Monday, setting up his arrival at Inter where he won three Serie A titles and the 2010 Champions League as a player. Chivu was part of the iconic Inter team which won the treble under Jose Mourinho 15 years ago, a feat which the San Siro club tried and spectacularly failed to repeat this season. In total Chivu played 169 times over six seasons with Inter, and he also knows Serie A well due to the four seasons he spent at rivals Roma before moving north in 2007. The 44-year-old replaced Fabio Pechia in February and guided Parma to Serie A safety in his first job in football of any form since leaving Inter's youth set-up last summer. "I thank the club, staff, players and fans for having believed in me and our project," said Chivu on Instagram. "Together we overcame obstacles and wrote a page (in Parma's history) which will remain in my heart." Chivu's first match in charge of Inter will be against Monterrey in the Club World Cup next week, in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. He will lead a group of players who looked dead on their feet during their 5-0 hammering against PSG in the Champions League final late last month. Inzaghi left Inter in the wake of the Italians' thumping in Munich, taking the job at Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal who are also participating the Club World Cup. He had made light of serious financial problems in turning Inter into one of Europe's best teams in his four seasons at the Milan giants, but his final campaign ended in a bitter fashion and with no trophies. Inter had looked a decent bet for the Serie A, Champions League and Italian Cup treble when they booked a place in the semi-finals of Europe's top club competition by knocking out Bayern Munich. At that point Inter were three points clear at the top of Serie A, but they ended up conceding the Scudetto to Napoli on the final day of the season and were knocked out of the Italian Cup by AC Milan. That left the Champions League as Inter's only hope of a trophy but they lost in embarrassing fashion their second final in three years under Inzaghi. (AFP)


RTHK
21 hours ago
- RTHK
Belgium, Italy secure World Cup qualifying wins
Belgium, Italy secure World Cup qualifying wins Kevin De Bruyne celebrates after scoring to seal Belgium's victory over Wales. Photo: Reuters Belgium held off a battling Wales and Italy gave sacked coach Luciano Spalletti a winning send-off in World Cup qualifying. Elsewhere Manchester City star Erling Haaland's goal lifted Norway past Estonia, Luka Modric was among the scorers in Croatia's 5-1 rout of the Czech Republic, and the Faroes Islands left it late to down Gibraltar 2-1. Giacomo Raspadori and Andrea Cambiaso scored in each half as Italy beat Moldova 2-0 to inject a smidgeon of pride back in the Azzurri camp after last week's 3-0 thrashing by Norway which cost Spalletti his job. The Italians trail Norway by nine points in European qualifying group I by nine points and are at risk of missing out on a third straight World Cup. Even though they have played two games less their ticket to the United States, Canada and Mexico next year is far from certain. Only top spot in each group guarantees automatic qualification with Italy's best hopes appearing to rest on finishing second and reaching the play-offs. "When you're the national team coach you have no excuses, it's you who selects the squad," said Spalletti to public broadcaster Rai. "It's the coach who has to make the difference and unfortunately I wasn't able to do that." Over in Brussels Belgium raced to a three-goal lead over Wales courtesy of Romelu Lukaku, Youri Tielemans and Jeremy Doku inside half an hour. Wales, though, rallied through a Harry Wilson penalty, Sorba Thomas and Brennan Johnson to stun the side ranked eighth in the world. But De Bruyne rode to his nation's rescue, as he has so often in a stellar career, by steering in Tielemans' perfect cross in the 88th minute. It left Wales sitting second in Group J, one point behind North Macedonia, 1-0 winners over Kazakhstan, and three in front of Belgium, who have two games in hand. This was Wales manager Craig Bellamy's first defeat in his first 10 matches in charge. "Getting back as close as we did is probably why it's as painful as it is," Wales captain Ben Davies told the BBC. "We knew we could do a lot better. You could see in the second half, we managed to nick a goal before half-time and it gave us something to hang on to and we pushed them close," he added. "We have plenty more games we just have to focus on ourselves and hopefully results go our way." On Tuesday, the Netherlands host Malta in Groningen hoping to make it two wins from two and close the gap on Poland, who have a stiff test in Finland, in Group G. (AFP)